Fair promotes green lifestyle

“The Sustainable Living Fair is a snapshot of the work that the campus and the community is doing to reduce our footprint on the future.”

James Simon, Sustainability Engagement Coordinator

Office of Sustainability

The name has changed, but the goal remains the same.

The UB Sustainable Living Fair—formerly known as Green
Shade of Blue & You Day—encourages members of the UB
community to practice sustainability at home, as well as on
campus.

The university’s fourth annual environmental expo took
place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 18 in the Student Union, North
Campus. It was sponsored by the UB Office of Sustainability, the
Professional Staff Senate and Campus Dining and Shops.

Why the name change?

“Greener Shade of Blue & You Day was a riff off of a
focused semester on sustainability in 2007 that saw leaders like Al
Gore and the late Wangari Maathai visiting and speaking on
campus,” says event co-chair Jim Simon, sustainability
engagement coordinator with the Office of Sustainability.
“Since then, our take on sustainability has expanded to
include not only the environment, but people and economic
efficiency.

“We look at all of this through the lens of teaching
sustainability through our curriculum, discovering the next big
idea through our research, reducing our environmental footprint in
our own operations and reaching others far and wide through
community engagement,” Simon explains. “Changing the
name to the UB Sustainable Living Fair helps capture this focus and
also makes it clear what we are actually doing on Sept.
18.”

The fair, he points out, is a “snapshot of the work that
the campus and the community is doing to reduce our footprint on
the future.”

“Coming together every fall for this event is always
inspiring,” he says.

The environmental fair featured demonstrations, door prizes and
nearly 20 local and national business and nonprofit organizations
offering information about maintaining a sustainable home and
reducing one’s environmental footprint.

Goodwill had a truck at the event to collect donated items.

In conjunction with the fair, Campus Dining and Shops again
hosted the Pride of New York Showcase featuring organic and local
produce, dairy products and fresh baked goods from Western New York
farms, fields and kitchens. The showcase featured many vendors that
partner with UB.

Janiece Jankowski, circulation manager for the Arts &
Sciences Libraries and event co-chair, notes that vendors were
selected for this year’s fair in keeping with the new focus
of the event: to help attendees support sustainable living.

Jankowski also says that organizers strive to make the event
“as green as possible.” For example, this year there
was less use of paper to advertise the fair in favor of such things
as signs and email.

“We continue to promote it as a university-wide event;
everyone is encouraged and welcome to attend,” she
says.